Dukakis and Kirk in the frame to replace Kennedy

There is finally some good news on healthcare reform for Barack Obama. A replacement senator for the late Ted Kennedy (above) is set to be announced by Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. Because Patrick, a close friend of Obama, will choose a Democrat, it means the party's 60-40 majority in the Senate will be restored, invalidating Republican efforts to hold any health bill up through procedural trickery.
 
After the Massachusetts state senate voted last night by 24-16 to allow the governor to appoint a temporary replacement for a dead senator, a measure that Kennedy proposed on his deathbed, Patrick could appoint someone within days. The joy in Democrat circles at the move is palpable - Senate majority leader Harry Reid pumped his fist after being told in Washington - but the big question is who will fill Kennedy's considerable shoes?
 
While one might expect the dynastic Kennedys to have a candidate ready, it appears that the position is likely to go outside the family. One of the front-runners is Michael Dukakis, the Democrats' failed presidential candidate in 1988, although at 75 he is viewed by the party hierarchy as being too old and too independent-minded. This is a concern even though it is only a temporary position until a permanent replacement for Kennedy is elected next January.
 
The likeliest choice is Paul Kirk Jr, a former aide of Kennedy's and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Other names jockeying for position include Evelyn Murphy, a former Massachusetts lieutenant governor; Charles Ogletree, a Harvard Law School professor who taught both of the Obamas; Nick Littlefield, another former Kennedy staffer; Robert Travaglini, a former state senator; and Shannon O'Brien, a previous candidate for the Massachusetts governorship.
 
Meanwhile plans are already afoot to line up a replacement for Senator Robert Byrd, the 91-year-old Democrat from West Virginia who fell at his home yesterday and has been taken to hospital as a precautionary matter. West Virginia already has a law in place for the governor - thankfully for Obama another Democrat, Joe Manchin - to appoint a replacement should a senator die in office. ·